February 9, 201115 yr I saw a tweet yesterday that said Pew(I think) did a poll and found that 52% of those polled were not aware of the conflict going on in Egypt. Come on. 52%? You don't have to be able to speak intelligently about it or be able to debate sides with someone but how in the world can you NOT be AWARE of it?
February 9, 201115 yr I think it'd be very easy. If people don't watch the news, or go to websites like cnn, how are they to know? I wouldn't have known about it if it weren't for BGP.
February 9, 201115 yr Author I think it'd be very easy. If people don't watch the news, or go to websites like cnn, how are they to know? I wouldn't have known about it if it weren't for BGP. Really? You didn't see it in a newspaper? You didn't accidentally stumble across it flipping through the cable channels? Even if you don't "watch the news" it seems like you would have to never turn on your TV or use the web in order to not at least be able to say "yeah, I heard something about that."
February 9, 201115 yr When people are struggling in their own lives, they don't have time to pay attention to what is going on 5000 miles away. What is sad is not that people don't know, but they are in a situation where they don't care to know.
February 9, 201115 yr I saw a tweet yesterday that said Pew(I think) did a poll and found that 52% of those polled were not aware of the conflict going on in Egypt. Come on. 52%? You don't have to be able to speak intelligently about it or be able to debate sides with someone but how in the world can you NOT be AWARE of it? I'm surprised it's not more like 75 percent. We are a nation of stupid, self-absorbed clowns who are incapable of seeing the world beyond what's directly in front of our face.
February 9, 201115 yr Author When people are struggling in their own lives, they don't have time to pay attention to what is going on 5000 miles away. What is sad is not that people don't know, but they are in a situation where they don't care to know. I'm not sure if I completely buy that. Unless these people you mention are not watching TV and not perusing the web or reading a paper then, again, I'm not sure how they would miss it.
February 9, 201115 yr I'm not sure if I completely buy that. Unless these people you mention are not watching TV and not perusing the web or reading a paper then, again, I'm not sure how they would miss it. The vast majority of people in this country do not care about the news, will not watch or read about it, and will tune it off when it comes on the radio. They're to busy living their lives, feeding their families, entertaining themselves, ..., etc., to be bothered. In fact, most music radio stations do not play news or comment on news events. I haven't seen a commercial about Egypt, watching what little network TV I do and nothing on the non-network channels that are not news specific.
February 9, 201115 yr Author I guess this is one more example of how the traditional outlets are not used by a large number of Americans. BGP has obviously turned into a news outlet for some. I'd suggest to those that do not follow traditional outlets but use social media to "follow" news orgs. I use Twitter to get a lot of breaking news type info (sports and non-sports). I'm sure Facebook has news orgs on there as well.
February 9, 201115 yr Really? You didn't see it in a newspaper? You didn't accidentally stumble across it flipping through the cable channels? Even if you don't "watch the news" it seems like you would have to never turn on your TV or use the web in order to not at least be able to say "yeah, I heard something about that." Don't get a newspaper. I rarely flip through channels, and when I do, make sure to avoid the "news" channels such as cnn, fox, msnbc, etc...
February 9, 201115 yr Author Don't get a newspaper. I rarely flip through channels, and when I do, make sure to avoid the "news" channels such as cnn, fox, msnbc, etc... You're probably not in a minority on your news gathering especially in your age group. It's hard for us older guys to fathom that though. Not following any news organizations on Twitter or FB?
February 9, 201115 yr Meanwhile, Jersey Shore is enjoying nice ratings. This frustrates me to a great deal with American's, it doesn't matter if you're conservative, liberal, liberatarian or anything else, just please be informed. Can an ignorant electorate be trusted to preserve democracy?
February 9, 201115 yr I guess this is one more example of how the traditional outlets are not used by a large number of Americans. BGP has obviously turned into a news outlet for some. I'd suggest to those that do not follow traditional outlets but use social media to "follow" news orgs. I use Twitter to get a lot of breaking news type info (sports and non-sports). I'm sure Facebook has news orgs on there as well. Facebook does, but like TV news channels, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media requires one to "follow" or tune to the news channel or outlet. From what I've seen, people are more interested in celebrity than anything else. They are not going to follow the news on any media.
February 9, 201115 yr Generally speaking, I agree with you Clyde. And I don't buy that people are too busy to be bothered. What's disturbing to me is, if 52% of people don't even know there's a situation in Egypt, how in the heck are they able to have opinions about what is going on domestically? For the last two weeks, Egypt has dominated the news. You cannot possibly have missed that and be aware of what's going on with our domestic issues.
February 9, 201115 yr Facebook does, but like TV news channels, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media requires one to "follow" or tune to the news channel or outlet. From what I've seen, people are more interested in celebrity than anything else. They are not going to follow the news on any media. I'm a geek. I "follow" CNN, ESPN, NYTimes, CBS, BBC, WHAS11 & WLKY32 (Local TV) and the C-J. :lol:
February 9, 201115 yr Author Facebook does, but like TV news channels, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media requires one to "follow" or tune to the news channel or outlet. From what I've seen, people are more interested in celebrity than anything else. They are not going to follow the news on any media. You either interested in knowing what's going on or you're not. There are too many options for people who do not read a newspaper. You have to go out of your way to miss major news nowadays. Twitter is on my phone. It takes me so little time to browse through those that I "follow." If it interests me I can then click on a link to learn more. Not a lot of physical or mental effort expended. When Twitter first came out I was one of those that said "why do I care if you're going to the grocery or seeing a movie. " Twitter is now often my first source of real news info.
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